This lesson will teach students about the /o/ sound. Obtaining word recognition
is essential in developing fluency. In this lesson students will learn to
recognize, spell, and read words containing the /o/ sound. They will learn a
meaningful representation (a hopping frog), they will spell and read words in a
Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that spotlights the /o/ sound.

1.
Begin by introducing the short vowel o= /o/. Say: "Today we are going to hear,
spell and read words with the /o/ sound. Let's look at what letter makes the /o/
sound. The letter O makes the /o/ sound. When words have /o/ in them they
contain the short o vowel. What other words can you think of with the /o/ sound?
A few examples are frog, hop, dog, top,
and October. When you are trying to remember the /o/ sound, think about a
frog hopping. Both of the words frog
and hop have the /o/ sound."

2.
Say: "Before we start to spell words with the /o/ sound, we need to try to
listen for the /o/ sound. When we make this sound we should have are mouth wide
open. Let's all say the word hop.
When you say the word I want you to notice that your mouth is open. It's just
like when you go to the doctor and he says to open your mouth wide. Let's say
hop together. Don't forget to notice!
Ready? Hop. Did everyone notice that
his or her mouths were wide open? Great!"

3.
Now I would like to spell the word spot. "The dog has a brown spot."
In this sentence spot means a mark on the dog. In
order for me to spell spot using letterboxes, I need to know how many sounds, or
phonemes are in the word. So I am going to stretch the word out and count:
/s//p//o//t/. I need four boxes. The word starts with the /s/ sound. So I am
going to need an s in the first box. Let me say
the word again so I can figure out what goes in the next box: /s//p//o//t/. I am
pretty sure I heard /p/ after the s. So let me put a
p
after the s. Ok we are half way there.
Let's say it again slowly: /s//p//o//t/. My mouth was wide open and I heard the
/o/ sound. That means I am going to put an
o
in the next box. Now let's finish this word: /s//p//o//t/. The last sound I
heard was /t/. That means we are going to put a
t,
because it makes the /t/ sound.

Now I want you to listen and watch how I would read a hard word. [Show students
a poster with the word stomp and model reading the
word.] First I see an o. This makes me think about a
frog hopping. So I am going to have my mouth wide open when I say this part of
the word. Now I am going to put the other letters with it: s-t-o-m-p. Now I am
going to put the whole thing together. Stomp, like "The horse will stomp
his foot."

4.
Now I want you to spell a few words in your letterboxes. You are going to need
three boxes for your first word. The word is
top. "The box is on top of the
table." What should go in our first box? [Respond to students' answers]. What
goes in the second box? [Respond to students' answers]. Now, what letter goes in
our last box? [Observe progress]. Let's look at another word. You are going to
need three boxes again. Listen for the /o/ sound. Here is the word:
Tom. "My best friend's name is Tom." [Allow students to spell remaining
words: pop, drop, blot, clog, and
blond.

5.
Now let's read the words that we have spelled. [Have the students read the words
together aloud]

6.
Say: "Today everyone has done an amazing job using and reading words with the
/o/ sound. Now let's read a book called
Bob is Lost. This story is about a boy and his pet. His pet is lost and the
boy searches for him. Let's read with a buddy and find out if the boy finds his
pet. [Pair the students and have them take turns reading a page from the book.
The teacher will walk around the room to monitor and give help if needed. After
the students have read the story with their partners, the teacher will reread
the book aloud with the class. Between turning the pages the class will discuss
the plot in the story.]

7.
Say: To end our lesson on the /o/ sound, I want you to do some more practice
with this worksheet. Look at the letters given and make a word with the /o/
sound. Let's look at the first one together. [Help the students with number one
and have them complete the rest of the worksheet. Collect the worksheets to
evaluate each child's progress.]